Black Water Creek

by Robert Brumm

  Black Water Creek

  Robert Brumm

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  www.robertbrumm.com

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  v 1.1

  Copyright 2013

  Robert Brumm

  DeadPixel Publications

  Chapter 1

  Kelly noted the time on her clock radio after the front door slammed shut. There were a few ways the next few minutes could play out and she prayed for the best, yet least likely, scenario—Don collapsing on the bed and snoring within seconds.

  But judging by the digits on the clock, Don probably wasn’t done for the night. He and his buddies closed the bar, but for whatever reason he came straight home instead of finishing off the night at one of their houses.

  The fridge door squeaked followed by the loud crack of a beer can being opened. The best case scenario just flew out the window and now all Kelly could hope for was Don passing out on the couch in front of the TV. Too bad she would be awake for the next hour waiting for it.

  The bedroom light switched on. “Hey, what happened to that left over Subway?” Don slurred from the doorway.

  Kelly got up on one elbow and squinted at him. “What?”

  “The sub. That left over sub, I was gonna eat it when I got home.”

  “It was three days old, I threw it out.”

  “Who told you to throw it out?” He took a long pull of his beer and belched. “All night I was thinking about that sandwich. Now what in the hell am I supposed to eat?”

  “Sorry. I can make you something else.”

  Don turned from the door and staggered down the hallway. “There isn’t anything else! Why isn’t there ever any decent food in this damn house? Don’t you ever go shopping?”

  The refrigerator door opened and slammed shut, followed by the kitchen cabinets. “Too much to ask to get some food in this dump? What good is it busting my ass all week if it don’t even get me a decent meal?”

  Kelly was tempted to remind him she made him a decent meal earlier that night before he went out drinking but she had to pick her battles. It wasn’t worth arguing over when it was so late and he probably wouldn’t remember in the morning anyway. She slipped out of bed and closed Keegan’s bedroom door. “I’ll fix you something,” she hissed at Don. “Just stop yelling, you’ll wake the baby.”

  “The baby. The kid ain’t a baby no more, he’s almost three. That’s what I’m talking about, you keep treating him like a baby and the he’s gonna grow up into a pussy.” Don crumpled the empty can in his hand and reached into the fridge for another.

  “Just go sit down,” Kelly said. “I’ll make you a chicken pot pie.”

  “Seriously, knock it off with that baby shit!”

  “Okay, I’m sorry!”

  He stood and glared at her for a moment before turning and heading to the living room on unsteady feet. Kelly sighed and glanced at the clock on the stove. She was supposed to get up for work in three hours. She’d only been working the weekend breakfast shift at Barry’s Diner for a few weeks to bring in some extra money. Don was supposed to watch Keegan while she was waitressing from six to eleven but there was no way he’d get up when he’d been out this late. Keegan woke up at dawn seven days a week and even if Don passed out that second, he’d probably sleep until noon.

  She tossed a pot pie in the microwave, leaned up against the counter, and bit her fingernails. She called in sick last Sunday after Don didn’t get home until five in the morning. If she didn’t show up again that morning she knew that would be it. Jobs in town were hard to come by and a least a dozen other girls would line up to take her place. Don promised it wouldn’t be a problem if she worked weekend mornings but she knew she was fooling herself at the time. She just thought maybe if a little extra money started coming in he’d lighten up a bit and things at home would start to improve.

  The microwave beeped and Kelly removed the pot pie. She dumped it upside down onto a plate and poked at the soggy crust, grimacing at the gray meat oozing out. Kelly thought frozen pot pies were disgusting but Don couldn’t get enough of them, especially after a night out on the town. She took the plate into the living and found Don on the couch. Feet on the coffee table, head back, mouth open wide, and snoring. She set the plate down on the coffee table and very carefully slipped the half empty can of beer out of his hand. He snorted once and was still.

  She tip-toed into the kitchen and used the phone to leave a message on the diner’s answering machine. Kelly got back into bed, hoping for a couple hours of sleep before Keegan woke up.

  Chapter 2

  “Mom-eeeeee!”

  Kelly woke with a start and looked at the clock. 6:34.

  “Momma!”

  Kelly quickly got out of bed and into the hallway. Keegan, dressed in his Ninjago pajamas with messy hair and puffy eyes, stood in his bedroom doorway behind the baby gate locked into the door frame. Don made her put it up every night ever since Keegan moved up to a Big Boy Bed. Once free from the confines of his crib, Keegan fell asleep just fine in the Big Boy Bed but often ended up crawling in with them sometime during the night. Kelly didn’t mind, but it irritated Don. One more thing that would no doubt turn him into a pussy.

  “Shhh,” she hushed him. “Daddy is still sleeping.” She opened the gate and grabbed Keegan just as he was about to run down the hallway. “Hold on there, bub. Let’s check that diaper, okay?”

  “I’m thirsty,” he protested.

  “Well, let’s change your diapie and you can have some breakfast.” She laid him down in his bedroom floor and changed him. “Are you going to be a big boy and go pee in the potty for me today?”

  “Uh-uh,” he said with a scowl.

  “Why not, don’t you want to pee like a big boy? Like Daddy? You’re getting too old for diapers.”

  “Daddy hurt my arm,” he reminded her.

  Kelly sighed. “It was an accident and Daddy is very sorry, remember?” It felt like the hundredth time she’d reminded him but she barely believed it herself.

  She lifted him up into his booster seat and poured a bowl of dry Cheerios. It was one of the few things he ate for breakfast these days as he seemed to be getting pickier every day. She finished pouring milk into a sippy cup when the phone rang. It could only be one person on the other end at that hour and her heart sank.

  She gave Keegan his milk and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Kelly, this is Nancy down at the diner.”

  “Hi. You got my message, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s why I’m calling. Kell, when I hired you for the weekends it’s because I needed somebody every week. It’s our busiest time.”

  Other than a close friend or two, she hated it when people called her Kell. “I know. I’m really sorry. It’s just, my boyfriend
isn’t feeling well and I don’t have anybody else to watch my son…”

  “Hey, I know family comes first, but I really need somebody I can count on. Since you called in, I had to wake up Katherine even though she put in over eight hours yesterday.”

  “I’m sorry.” It was all she could think to say.

  Nancy waited a beat to see if Kelly had anything else to add before clearing her throat. “Well, I am too. This just isn’t going to work out for us.”

  Kelly wiped a tear from her eye and nodded her head. “Sorry,” she muttered again.

  “If you could drop off your uniforms sometime this week I’d appreciate it. If I don’t see you next Friday I’ll put your last check in the mail.”

  “Okay, bye.” She hung up the phone and wiped her eyes.

  “What’s wrong, mommy?” asked Keegan.

  “Nothing baby, eat your breakfast.” Kelly looked into the living room. Don was sprawled out on his back with the plate of untouched congealed pot pie on the coffee table next to him. A few house flies were taking turns landing on it before doing laps around her boyfriend.

  She walked as loudly as possible into the room and scooped up the plate. Don stirred but didn’t wake. She tossed the plate into the sink, almost breaking it, and rinsed the uneaten mess into the garbage disposal. The phone conversation with Nancy left her feeling like a child getting reprimanded. The worst part was she actually liked that job. She enjoyed getting out of the house and talking to the customers. If it was up to her and she didn’t have to rely on Don, she knew she’d never miss a day of work. Not once.

  “Mommy what’s wrong?” Keegan held a single Cheerio between his chubby finger and thumb. Kelly realized she’d been crying and went over to him.

  “Mommy is just sad, that’s all, honey.” She crouched down and tussled his hair. “You know what would cheer me up? How about the park?”

  His face lit up and he held his hands above his head. “Yay, park!”

  “Yay, park!” She helped him out of his seat.

  *****

  Kelly and Keegan hurried through the front door two hours later, their cheeks red from the crisp October air. Don was finally upright on the couch, staring vacantly at the television. The walk to the playground down the street and back had lifted Kelly’s spirits but the sight of him on the sofa filled the room with an oppressive air. She found herself dreading the weekends lately and counted the hours until Monday morning. At least she was guaranteed the house to herself and the baby for eight hours.

  “You’re up.” She helped Keegan out of his jacket and he sat down on the coffee table, mesmerized by the TV screen. Don grunted a non-response and scratched his crotch.

  “Want some coffee? I can put on a fresh pot.”

  “Why aren’t you at work?” he asked.

  Kelly put Keegan’s jacket in the closet and took off her own. “You were out so late I didn’t think you’d want to get up so early with Keegan. So I called in.”

  “Mmm.” He watched her as she went into the kitchen and rinsed out the cold remains of the coffee pot. “So I guess that makes me the bad guy then, don’t it?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Ain’t my fault you gotta get a job that somehow makes me get up at the ass crack of dawn on a Saturday.”

  “I wanna watch cartoons,” Keegan declared without taking his eyes off SportsCenter.

  “Just forget it, okay?” Kelly called from the kitchen. “It’s no big deal, I can find something else. They might need somebody in the afternoons at the library.”

  “Fine, I’ll get up with the kid tomorrow. As long as you’re happy, that’s what matters. I only have to get up at 5:30 every day for work. Why not weekends, too?”

  “Daddy, I wanna watch cartoons!” Keegan pleaded.

  Kelly walked back into the living room. “Don’t worry about it, it’s fine.” She looked at the floor and dried her hands with a dishrag. “Nancy let me go this morning, so it’s not a problem.”

  “What the hell for?”

  “Because I called in again.”

  “Oh, that’s just great! One more thing to hold over my head. Did you even try to wake me up?”

  Kelly twisted the damp rag tight and clenched her jaw shut. She wanted to point out that maybe if he didn’t stay out so late she wouldn’t need to wake him up. She wanted to remind him how last Sunday she finally dragged him out of bed exactly two minutes before she was supposed to start her shift. It erupted into a shouting match and she sped to the diner with mascara running down her cheeks from crying.

  She turned to her son instead. “Honey, why don’t you go in your room and play?”

  “I wanna watch car-TOONS!”

  “Jesus Christ. Here!” Don tossed the remote at Keegan and it bounced off his head, causing him to burst into tears.

  “Don! For Pete’s sake!” Kelly rushed over to Keegan and picked him up.

  Don exhaled and held up his hands. “And here we go. Come on, it barely touched him.”

  Keegan wailed dramatically into Kelly’s chest. “I know you’re mad at me but don’t take it out on your son,” she snapped.

  Don rose from the couch and picked up the remote from the floor. “Oh, he’s fine. Stop crying,” he commanded.

  Kelly pulled away. “He’s not fine! You can’t just throw stuff around without thinking. First his arm and now this!”

  “Again with the arm? How many times do I have to say sorry?” He reached for Keegan. “Come on, give me the kid.” He grabbed the back of Keegan’s shirt.

  “That’s enough, Don. Just leave us alone!” Kelly turned and headed for the kitchen which only made Don angrier.

  “Don’t you walk away from me. Get back here!” He grabbed her shoulder and tried to turn her around but she resisted. Kelly’s feet got tangled up and she crashed into a shelf on the wall that held various knick-knacks and photos. They rained down on her and Keegan before falling to the floor. Kelly lost her grip on her son and he tumbled to the carpeting.

  Don reached for Keegan but Kelly tried to push him away. Anger overcame her and she screamed at Don to get away. Don swung, Kelly flinched. She wasn’t quick enough to miss his blow entirely and his hand slapped her left ear. He swung again and this time connected directly with her nose, causing her to fall to the floor. Her vision filled with stars and a warm flow of blood dripped off her chin and onto the carpeting.

  Keegan screamed and scrambled to his feet. He ran to his bedroom with a bellowing Don behind him. “Get back here, you little shit! I’ll give you something to cry about!” Kelly ran after them with a primal scream and jumped on Don’s back.

  “What the hell are you doing?” He grabbed a handful of her hair before slamming her into the wall. Kelly clawed at his face. He punched her in the stomach and she fell to her knees, unable to breathe. She gasped on her hands and knees in the hallway, unable to make her lungs work.

  Don directed his rage back to Keegan. “I said, stop crying! What are you, a little girl?” He grabbed Keegan by the shoulder and started shaking him. Kelly finally got to her feet and grabbed the baseball bat leaning up again the corner in Keegan’s room. When Keegan was only a few weeks old, Don came home drunk one night with a bat, glove, and a few baseballs as a present for the baby. It was a symbolic gesture at the time but now that Keegan was old enough to actually start using baseball equipment, Don couldn’t have been less interested. The bat sat in the corner collecting dust until Kelly gripped it with both hands.

  “Leave him alone,” she spat. Her tongue was thick and tasted like blood.

  Don glared at her and then the bat. “Or what? What are you going to do about it, bitch?”

  He lunged for her and she swung, hitting him in the forearm. He clutched his arm and screamed. She swung again, this time hitting him in the back as he bent over. Don fell to the floor, taking his turn at getting the wind knocked out of him. He started to get back up and she swung one last time as hard as she could, connecting with the back of his he
ad. He collapsed to the floor and was still. Blood flowed from his skull and dripped onto the tan carpeting.

  Kelly dropped the bat and burst into tears. Keegan finally stopped crying and gazed at his father on the floor. She picked him up and ran from the room.

  “We gotta go baby, we gotta get out of here.” She sat Keegan down on the coffee table and went for his jacket. Keegan stared at the TV with wet cheeks and a thumb in his mouth.

  She jogged into Keegan’s bedroom and grabbed the diaper bag off his dresser. Don stirred and moaned from the bedroom floor. She stopped in the kitchen, grabbed her purse and keys, took one last look around the living room, and rushed out the door with her son.

  Chapter 3

  Kelly fumbled for a wipe out of Keegan’s diaper bag and tried to gently clean the blood from her nose. She winced in pain and risked a quick glance of herself in the rearview mirror. The dried blood would eventually clean off, but her nose would swell, followed by discoloration in the morning. She knew from past experience.

  She grabbed another diaper wipe and checked on Keegan in his car seat. He stared with a glazed look out the car window and sucked his thumb, something he only did when he was upset. It tore at Kelly’s heart and she wished she could somehow take back the last hour as if it never happened. Not so much for her, but for him. She took her hand off the steering wheel, fanning her face and willing herself not to cry again.

  “I’m hungry,” Keegan said softly from the backseat.

  “I know, honey. We’ll get something soon.” She realized he hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was well after noon.

  “Where we going?” he asked.

  “Just going for a drive, okay? Look at the pretty leaves on the trees. Aren’t they colorful?”

  Unimpressed by the pretty leaves, Keegan stuck his thumb back in his mouth. Where were they going? Good question. There was no way she could go back home. She’d hit back once or twice in the past when things got rough but never actually hurt Don. Not like that. The image of him bleeding all over the floor was seared in her memory. What if he was really hurt? She saw him move a little but that didn’t mean it wasn’t serious.